Aloft Houston Downtown, to be located at 820 Fannin Street, is scheduled to open in June 2016, according to the company's listing. This would coincide well with Super Bowl LI, to be held at the NRG Stadium on Feb. 5, 2017.

The announcement of the new Aloft Hotel is only the latest in a string of new hotel developments planned for the downtown area as the city prepares for the massive sporting event. Construction is set to begin on the 225-room luxury Hotel Alessandra at GreenStreet — formerly the Houston Pavilions, with an opening in late 2016, and the 1,000-room Marriott Marquis near the George R. Brown Convention Center will begin construction this month, with a planned opening also in 2016.

JW Marriot's $80 million renovation of the former Samuel F. Carter building on Main St. will be completed in August and a new 261-room Hyatt Place is set to be completed by January 2016.

The 10-story Stowers building — built in 1913 as the headquarters for G.A. Stowers Furniture Company — was owned by historic property landlord Spire Realty for more than 10 years, but according to Swamplot, the property changed hands last year when it was sold to Trend Hospitality of Sugar Land.

Starwood already operates 15 area hotels, including the St. Regis, three Westin's and an existing Aloft Hotel in the Galleria area.